


Deep Breaths

by fecklessphilanderer



Series: The Arcana Whump [5]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Broken Bones, Gender-Neutral Apprentice (The Arcana), Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Medical Procedures, POV Second Person, Sweat, Whump, graphic description of bone stuff, muriel is in pain!, to clarify bone does not come outside- that was too graphic even for me!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:42:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25795330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fecklessphilanderer/pseuds/fecklessphilanderer
Summary: You sit back, still stroking over his face and he leans his sweaty cheek into your palm.You look to Inanna for help and she meets your gaze before turning and running towards a tree nearby. It’s one of the tallest in the forest, and also where Muriel frequently climbs to place a protective charm halfway up the boughs.You can see quite a bit of debris and branches litter the forest floor.“Did you fall out of the tree?” You lean down to try and meet his eye, but he refuses to look at you.[can you carry a big beefy hermit? find out now]
Relationships: Apprentice/Julian Devorak/Muriel, Apprentice/Muriel (The Arcana), Muriel (The Arcana)/Reader
Series: The Arcana Whump [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1675759
Comments: 18
Kudos: 119





	Deep Breaths

You can hear panting getting louder and heavier as well as a few pained grunts as you twist and dodge trees to follow Inanna deeper into the forest.

“Muriel?” You yell his name. There’s no answer except for a pained grunt.

Inanna takes off into a dead run and you give chase. Finally, you come out from a clump of bushes that rip at your clothes to find Muriel on the ground.

He’s up on his elbows, stomach to the earth. It takes you a moment of watching to realize he’s trying to crawl in the direction of his hut.

“What happened!” You drop to your knee’s in front of him and take in the scratches across his scarred face.

“M’fine.” He grunts.

You sit back, still stroking over his face and he leans his sweaty cheek into your palm. His usual embarrassment at allowing physical affection is all but gone. That’s how you know something really bad must’ve happened.

You look to Inanna for help and she meets your gaze before turning and running towards a tree nearby. It’s one of the tallest in the forest, and also where Muriel frequently climbs to place a protective charm halfway up the boughs.

You can see quite a bit of debris and branches litter the forest floor.

“Did you fall out of the tree?” You lean down to try and meet his eye, but he refuses to look at you.

“Oh Muri, c’mon look at me.”

Finally, he raises his head and when your eyes meet his you can see they’re unfocussed. You hope that it’s just from pain and not a head injury.

“Where does it hurt?”

“Leg.” He sags in defeat and you pat his cheek.

“I’m going to check for other injuries alright?” He gives a curt nod and then presses his face to the forest floor.

You begin ghosting your fingers down his neck while he shivers. Then pat down his shoulders. As you move towards his hands you find a still oozing gash on his bicep. You take a moment to wrap it with a small handkerchief you have in your satchel before moving on.

There are a few more shallow cuts on his palms, likely from breaking his fall.

The rest of him is clear of blood although a little bit sap covered. You work your way down his muscular thighs, checking your hands for blood and breathe a sigh of relief when it’s clear.

Finally, you reach the calve of his left leg and he lets out a low moan.

You stop there and check the right leg all the way down to his ankle before returning to what must be the reason he’s not able to walk.

You begin unlacing his boot before easing it off the leg which earns you a wince.

“Okay, I need to roll up this pantleg,” you wait for him to nod into the ground before you start rolling. You thank the gods that Muriel is a fan of comfort over fashion and wears relatively loose pants.

He lets out a groan when you make it halfway up his calve but you persevere until you have the pantleg rolled up to his knee.

He’s panting openly now. From your position you can see it’s swollen, but there’s not a clear breakage.

You pat his ankle.

“I need you to roll over Muri, so I can get a better look.”

He doesn’t move for a moment, and you worry he’s passed out.

Then he’s heaving himself over with a grunt and you can see a large bump four inches below the knee.

“Okay, can you try to wiggle your toes for me?”

He lifts his head to meet your eye with his signature pout.

“I’m not teasing you Muriel, please.” He lets out a sigh and makes a valiant effort in wiggling his toes but stops with a low gasp.

“Okay, I think this is broken. Inanna, can you go get Julian? Take this.” You hand her Muriel’s boot which she takes gingerly in her mouth before loping off.

“Not him.”

“Muriel we all know you don’t hate Julian as much as you pretend to, do you want me to reset this and never walk again or do you want a professional to do it.”

He pouts again but doesn’t say anything.

“Alright, I’m going to put a splint on this and then we’re getting you home.”

You end up using some of the broken branches from his fall to make a makeshift splint to keep his leg steady. He only grumps at you once or twice for using your scarf to tie it all together but is otherwise silent throughout the process.

You weave a little bit of magic into it just to keep his leg still and ward off bumping it into anything in preparation for the most difficult part of the process.

Getting him home.

“Alright, can you crawl over to that tree and we’ll use it to get you standing.”

He wordlessly rolls over again and begins a slow crawl with panting breaths to the nearest tree.

“Good, you’re doing so good Muriel, here.” You hold out your hand as he places his other on the base of the tree trunk. You let him use you for support as he gets his good foot on the ground and shakily lifts up until he’s almost stood to his full height.

You stroke his chest as he breathes in and out, giving him a moment to compose himself.

“How’re you doing?”

“Hurts,” he mumbles, leaning into your touch as you move his sweaty hair out of his face.

“You’re okay,” you pat his cheek once more and steel yourself to say the detail of the plan you had omitted up until this point, “I’m going to carry you.”

He reels back, still dazed from pain he nearly hits the ground again, but you push on his side to prop him back up against the tree.

“You can’t I’m too big.” He says with complete disbelief obvious in his voice.

“Nobody is ever too big for a piggy-back ride.” You try to lighten the mood, but he scowls.

“Y/n, I’ll hurt you.”

“I don’t mind.”

“That doesn’t make it better!” His voice raises into a panicked pitch.

“Hey, hey,” you get your hands onto his cheeks and rub your thumbs under his eyes, “I’ll use some magic to make it easier, don’t worry, I won’t let you hurt me.”

He sighs and closes his eyes for a moment before nodding.

You use the tree to your advantage bending your knees and he shuffles closer behind you before reaching out with your magic and pulling him off the ground. He’s only floating by an inch, but it’s the leverage you need to drape Muriel’s massive form across your back.

“Okay,” your voice sounds strained even to your ears, “arms around me.”

He reluctantly winds his arms over your shoulders, but you can feel him leaning away from you.

You reach a hand back and pat at his good thigh until he bends his knee so you can get a grip underneath the muscle and hike it up to sit on your hip.

“Lean forwards Muri, I’ll fall backwards if you keep leaning away,” he lets out a huff but you feel him relax his weight onto you, his chest pressing into your back as you carefully pick up his injured leg and position it on your other side.

It probably would look comedic to an outsider, you’re barely able to keep his feet off the ground he’s so large in comparison to you.

“Okay, ready?” You grit out.

“Yes,” he blows out a stream of air that you feel on your cheek.

The first step is hard, the strain is something you can feel all the way up your spine and you know you’ll be sore tomorrow.

“Here we go, tell me if it hurts.”

It’s a five-minute walk back to the hut, but it takes about twenty minutes at your slow pace.

With every step you check your footing and keep your grip underneath his thighs as steady as you can. You build up a rhythm like that. Step, check, feel Muriel, step again; and so on until you can see the hut looming closet.

“Gah!” Muriel writhes on your back and you nearly topple over. You feel your magic shoot down your legs to balance you.

You look down at his injured leg and see it’s caught on a low bush.

“Sorry, sorry.” When his movement stops you carefully tread backwards and maneuver away from the bush as you continue forwards.

By the time you’re close to the door each step is agony. You can feel sweat pouring down your face, but you don’t dare stop until you’re so close you could touch the door. Only then do you stop.

“Okay, get a hand on that root.” He does as you say, and you slowly release his legs until he has his good foot steady on the ground.

“Okay are you good?”

“Yeah,” you can hear his voice is pained but you trust him not to fall on top of you.

You practically collapse down to the ground as you stumble out from underneath him. On hands and knees you pant with relief and stretch out your back before looking up at Muriel.

He looks upset. So, you shakily stand on overexerted legs to check him over once more. He’s got all his weight on his good leg and grips the side of the hut for balance.

“I hurt you,” he mumbles when you get close.

“No, no, I’m fine I promise. Look,” you tap his chin and he looks at you, “I’m just going to be a little sore don’t worry.” He doesn’t look convinced, but you decide not to dwell on it.

“Let’s get inside c’mon,” you move to his left side and get underneath his arm.

Together you get him to hop inside. The few moments of walking in together make you glad you carried him most of the way. You don’t think you could stomach listening to those pained sounds the whole way through the forest.

Finally, you get him settled in his pile of furs by the fire. He practically falls into them and makes a pleased sound as you use magic to bring the dimming coals back to life.

You find he’s already been to the creek to fill up on water so you get a pot warming by the fire and start cleaning his cuts from his fall. The large gash has stopped oozing blood, but you still take time cleaning it regardless of the way Muriel huffs at you.

You hand him a cup of cool water and pile on another layer of furs once you’re finished cleaning him off.

“Is there anything else you need?” He shakes his head. You decide to ignore how pink he’s turned.

He turns even more pink as you strip out of your outer shirt and are left in the thin top you wear under your clothes. You find another clean cloth and mentally note you should do the laundry for Muriel while he’s healing before you dip it into the hot water and wipe the sweat off yourself.

With yourself clean you are left to wait for Julian.

Muriel has laid back and stares at the roof with a sort of blank look.

“Can I braid your hair?” You ask on impulse.

He goes pink again but nods his consent.

You move to sit behind him and oh so gently pull his head to pillow it on your lap.

His hair is greasy with pain sweat, so you focus on styling it away from his face. It may be a while before he can wash it again.

He barely hides his pleased expression as you run your fingers gently through his hair. His eyes are heavy lidded with each pass until he’s nearly asleep.

There’s a noise outside and you feel him go tense again. His eyes snap open when there’s a nervous knock on the door.

Muriel starts to get up but you push him back and tuck the furs over him.

“I got it,” you stand and head to the door. You know it’s Julian, but for Muriel’s sake you open the door slowly and peer out into the dimming sunlight to see a very confused looking Julian at the door. He’s holding Muriel’s boot while Inanna is stood behind him as if she’d herded him the whole way there.

“Y/n! Is everything alright? Our canine friend brought me this.”

“I sent her; Muriel’s leg is broken I think.”

“Well lucky for you I grabbed my kit before leaving! Let’s see the patient then.” You stand back to let him in and Inanna behind him before closing the door once more.

“Hello Muriel, how’re you feeling?” Muriel scowls as Julian goes to sit beside his large form and begins peeling back the furs you’d covered over his legs.

“Now how’d this happen?” You watch Julian as he wraps a hand around Muriel’s ankle and pulls off the bindings you’d put around it. His gloved hands ghosts up them gets to the swollen spot which looks much worse than it had earlier.

“He fell out of a tree.” You speak for him, but Julian looks at Muriel for confirmation with a raised brow.

Muriel nods.

“Sit up for me then, did you hit your head?”

“No.”

“I’ll check anyways,” Julian prompts Muriel quite professionally to sit with his face closer to the fire while Julian uses as small mirror to reflect the light into Muriel’s eyes. You watch while Julian probes all over Muriel’s head afterwards, checking for tender spots.

“Lucky you, you don’t have a head injury, but I’m going to have to reset that leg. It’ll hurt.” Julian says everything in a calm and even tone while Muriel seems unbothered.

“Y/n, perhaps hold his hand if you don’t mind. Lay back again for me Muriel.”

You move to Muriel’s other side and kneel down beside him. You feel his fingers searching for yours before you slide your hand into his. Betraying his nerves.

“Here drink this first, it’ll numb the pain.” Julian hands you a vial and you uncork it, getting a strong whiff of something minty and herbal with just a hint of magic before offering it to Muriel.

He knocks it back without question.

Julian pulls off his coat, peels off his gloves and rolls up his flowing white sleeve’s before placing a hand on Muriel’s leg.

“So, to reset this I’ll have to move things around, tap out if something hurts terribly but otherwise, I will keep going. It’s best to do this in one sitting and get it over with.”

Muriel nods again and you feel him squeeze your hand.

Then Julian starts.

Muriel lets out a low sound, and for a moment you think Julian will stop, but instead he furrows his brows and continues to press into the flesh.

Muriel grunts again and his hand starts a vice-like squeezing in your own.

His other hand starts to dig into the floor, and then into itself, so you reach across and pull it into your own. You can feel his nails cutting into your skin but at least it avoids him hurting himself.

“Halfway there.” Julian mutters.

Muriel lets out a noise between a gasp and yell, tears start to pool in his green eyes which screw shut as he bites his lower lip so hard you see a bit of blood.

“You’re alright, look at me _baby_.” You would usually flush at the endearment, your relationship still so fresh that you hadn’t used terms so intimate for one another. You were afraid to come on too strong for fear of scaring Muriel off.

But instead of awkwardness Muriel opens his eyes and looks at you. You squeeze his hands.

“Just breathe,” He breathes in and out and you can feel his hands start to relax a little.

They tense up again as Julian moves.

“Do one more thing for me Muriel, take a deep breath in.” Julian orders.

You breathe in deep with him watching his face contort with the effort.

“And out.” Muriel releases the air and then cuts off with a gasp as there’s a low crunching noise. The tears in Muriel’s eyes finally pour over and his hands go slack in yours.

“Done!” Julian sounds cheerful. You release one of Muriel’s hands, ignoring the way your own stings from his nails cutting into it, and run your thumb underneath his eyes to catch the tears.

“Should start to feel groggy from that tincture soon, how’re you doing Muriel?”

He grunts in response; Julian takes that as the only answer he’s going to get and begins wrapping Muriel’s leg.

“Watch me do this y/n.” Julian offers.

You scoot down Muriel’s body, still holding his hand and watch the way Julian wraps the injured leg.

“Do you think you could recreate this? Feel how tight it is here,” Julian directs you to feel with your hands and you feel how snug he wraps layer upon layer of fabric over the break.

“For the swelling you’ll want to keep it cool and elevated,” he tucks some furs underneath the leg, “try not to move it or put any weight on it for the first few days.” 

“Would some cooling magic help?” You hold up a hand to show Julian, he tentatively touches his bare hand to yours and shivers.

“That’ll help a lot. Don’t overdo it though. The tincture I gave you should promote fast healing, but I’ll be back with some more potent stuff tomorrow, hopefully I can catch Asra for some help.” 

Muriel’s eyes are starting to droop as you talk, all the tenseness going out of him as the medicine begins to work.

“I’ll try and find a splint and crutch for you so you can be back on your feet soon, you’re a bit big though,” Muriel breathes hard through his nose—the closest thing to a laugh that any conversation with Julian has ever gotten out of him.

Julian flushes, “but I know a leatherworker who owes me big time so I can get something whipped up for you in no time!”

“Thank you Julian,” you say. Julian stands and pulls on his jacket and gloves and packs up his kit.

“Inanna,” the wolf is up in moments and trots after Julian without Muriel saying more than her name. Julian freezes like the wolf is going to attack him. 

“She’ll walk you home,” Muriel’s voice trails off sleepily “thank you.”

Julian turns beet red in the firelight and rubs the back of his neck.

“It’s really no problem, agh—uh, your welcome.” Julian stumbles over his words before shaking his head and leaving with Inanna on his heels.

The hut is silent as you move back to the fire and throw on another log. The supply is getting low. You wonder if you can get Muriel propped up outside to watch you chop wood tomorrow.

Muriel’s eyes are closed as you settle on the furs beside him. You pool cooling magic in your hands and reach down to allow it to settle over the wrappings.

He lets out a small sigh as the cooling reaches the inflammation and you lean forward to plant a light kiss on his sweaty forehead.

“You like messing with him.” You whisper teasingly and Muriel grins in a way you can only describe as mischievous.

“He’s cute.” Muriel says plainly and then goes bright red and sputters when he realizes what he’s said.

“hmmm,” you lean in and press another kiss to his flaming cheek, “I think so too.”

Muriel visibly relaxes although his brows remain furrowed until you smooth them out with your thumb.

“Shall I invite him for dinner tomorrow?”

Muriel flushes and glance away from you. He purses his lips and nods.

“Lovely,” you lay down on the uninjured side of him and scoot up so he can fit his head in the crook of your shoulder.

You run your fingers through his hair as his breathing slows until he drops off into sleep. You can pinpoint the moment he does, the way his face goes slack in a way you wish you could see while he was awake. It is a privilege to be trusted in these moments. To get to feel his light breath on your clavicle and to watch the fire as you wait for the scrabble of paws on the door.

**Author's Note:**

> didn't intend for this to be a MC/Muriel/Julian thing but it happened and I went with it whoops! lmao
> 
> (let me know if i missed a tag as I know stuff like this is not everyone's cup o tea)  
> Thanks for readin!
> 
> p.s. definitely open to suggestions for the rest of this series!


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